Demand for sophisticated estate planning may grow as number of wealthy individuals continues to increase

Despite the appearance of a poor economy, the number of wealthy individuals is actually growing according to Tom Herman, The Ranks of the Ultrawealthy Grow, Yahoo! Finance, Aug. 28, 2008, who explains:

About 47,000 people had a net worth of $20 million or more in 2004, the latest available year, according to new estimates by the Internal Revenue Service. While that was up only slightly from 46,000 in 2001, it was up 62% from 29,000 in 1998.

The IRS also reported increases in the number of people with a net worth between $10 million and $20 million: 79,000 people qualified for this group in 2004, up from 77,000 in 2001 and 51,000 in 1998.

California had the largest number of residents with a net worth of $1.5 million or more, with 428,000 in 2004. Florida came in second, with 199,000, followed by New York (168,000), Texas (108,000), Illinois (101,000), Pennsylvania (86,000) and Massachusetts (83,000).

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.